


In The Middle

by GothicPixi



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: A Lucretia character study at the beginning for context, Had to get this out before the final episode, I have A Lot of feelings about this ship, I love these foxy grandpas, M/M, for both Stolen Century and Story and Song, spoilers obviously, whoops I wrote another davenchurch oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 03:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11797170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothicPixi/pseuds/GothicPixi
Summary: The apocalypse was over and they remembered.They kept remembering.Something old becomes something new.





	In The Middle

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I couldn't think of a title so this is named after my favorite Dodie song.  
> 2\. Kinda goes off my last one shot “That One Bureau Meeting When…”, so I added the end bit at the beginning for context  
> 3\. These both could always also be read in conjunction with my one shot “When We Meet” (jut saying)
> 
> Enjoy! Thank you for all the comments on my last one shot, that really motivated me to write more.

Their simple interaction pulled her back to days on the Starblaster, when the two were incredibly close. Merle was really the only person who could ever make Davenport laugh, really laugh. She couldn’t watch this anymore. She distracted herself from the memories and the guilt, waving over NO-3113 to check in on the regulators’ training.

But she couldn’t stop hearing their laughter in the back of her head for days after, and the weight of the rings in her cloak pocket was heavier than it had been in years.

When they all drank the baby void fish's ichor and remembered, Lucretia didn’t say anything. She didn’t take a second of time to produce the rings from her pocket. She didn’t know how things had changed, and honestly she didn’t have time to contemplate it. The world was ending and the last thing she needed to worry about was the wedding rings of her two old friends.

Merle was on her side. She would have smiled and cried in relief, but there wasn’t any time for that. Davenport was obviously very upset. She understood that - she would have been too. Lucretia isn’t really sure what over a decade of disability can do to a man. People at the Bureau weren’t always the kindest to him, some treating him the same as they would a coat rack( of course, is The Director saw this behavior they were immediately reprimanded).

Lucretia loved her family and her...surrogate fathers? Yeah, Cap’nport and Merle had basically become her dads. It was immensely painful to hurt them like she did, and she felt guilt in her very being every time she saw Davenport in his basically muted state.

When they stopped the Hunger and ended the apocalypse, Davenport safely landed the Starblaster outside of Neverwinter, where the survivors of the battle were gathering. The crew exited before Davenport, who took a moment to stare at the controls in his hand. He finally had a moment to think, a calm after the storm where everything came surging back. He thought and he remembered and he felt. He stared at his hands again and suddenly he felt like something was missing. The captain gave a final pat to the control panel before walking slowly off the ship, touching parts of the walls as he went by. He remembered the sensations like they were yesterday but he had to make sure this was real, it was back. He opened his mouth and whispered words, just any word that wasn’t his name, quietly to himself. He described the feelings, the memories, the emotions, everything. When he got to the exit ramp he was still muttering and running a hand on the wall.

“Cap’nport!” Barry called, running up to give the gnome a large hug.

“Barry.” Davenport replied. “Barry, Barry.” He repeated, quieter but with a sharper enunciation. 

“We did it.” The human holding him sounded triumphant and tired. He let go and smiled. “We fucking did it.”

“Yeah.” Davenport sighed happily. “Pan did we.” He gave Barry a familiar pat on the leg before looking at the scene before him. Taako and Lup were with Angus. Magnus was discussing something heatedly with Avi. Lucretia was with Sweet Flips and a pair of dryads. Merle was hugging a dwarf girl he didn’t recognize. Davenport felt the urge to approach, so he did. He didn’t understand why he felt...jealous? Of the girl. His brain was still processing the century of stolen memories, everything wasn’t in place yet. “Merle.” His voice came out smaller than he intended and the dwarf didn’t hear him.

“I can’t believe you did this, Mavis! It’s incredibly dangerous.”

“Dad, they couldn’t just leave me be with the Hunger in Goldcliff! And I helped. I….I heard the story about you and I….called Pan and-”

“You called Pan?! Did you-”

“I used magic, dad! It was amazing!” She grabbed Merle’s hands and bounced a little. “Mom always warned me about magic, mostly because that was closer to your route than hers, but it felt so beautiful and natural.”

“That’s my girl!” Merle wrangled her into another hug and his position shifted enough to see Davenport standing by. The dwarf froze and they held eye contact for a long moment.

“Dad?” Mavis untucked herself from his arms and looked between the two. “You guys seems like you have something to discuss. I’m going to thank Hurley and Sloane.” She quickly went away and Merle stepped closer to Davenport.

“Merle.” He reached a hand out. The dwarf grabbed in autonomously, fingers sliding together like they had hundreds of times before. Tears welled in his eyes. “Merle,” he repeated. There palms connected and it all came back.

They stood on the deck of the ship, the sun setting behind them on the alien planet they landed on. Davenport had parked the Starblaster by a pristine beach. The purple waves crashed as Lucretia read out the marriage agreements custom from their home plane as well as their current destination. Merle smiled back at the captain, hands intertwined and eyes wet. Lup and Taako had found them some nice suits and the rest of their small crew stood by as their family tied the knot. There was, of course, some color commentary when they sealed the deal with a kiss. They happily showed their rings off to Magnus at his insistence. Davenport with a yellow gold band engraved with a small sunflower and Merle with a black metal band engraved with an anchor. And even when the world came to an end that year, they were still smiling.

Davenport was pulled from his memory when he felt the familiar and sturdy arms of his husband wrap around him.

“Oh Davvy.” Merle ran a hand through his love’s hair. “How could I...I can’t believe I didn’t remember until now. You were everything to me.” Davenport pushed him away to stare into his eyes. He grabbed the collar of Merle’s shirt to pull him into a desperate kiss.

“You are my everything. Every star and every plane, nothing compares to you.” He whispered. Merle laughed through his tears and they hugged again, Davenport feeling light kisses on the side of his face.

Lucretia scanned the area around her and her eyes fell on her dads in a passionate embrace. She bid a quick goodbye and thank you to Sweet Flips, Hurley, Slone, and Mavis, before approaching Davenport and Merle. She reached her hands into her pocket and took out the chain holding two rings. She’d already returned Barry’s ring. She cleared her throat before venturing closer.

“Excuse me?” She sounded scared and meek, which made her flinch. The two looked up, Merle’s gaze kinder than Davenport’s. She fiddled with the chain in her hands.

“Yes?” The dwarf smiled, happy just to remember and have his husband again.

“These, these are yours.” She didn’t know why this situation was causing her more grief and discomfort than facing the fucking Hunger, but she tried to breathe evenly while releasing the rings from the chain and passing them down to Merle. She saw Davenport draw in a breath.

“Lucy,” Merle grinned, “how do you-”

“I’ve been carrying them since then.” Lucretia revealed, feeling a thousand weights lifting as Davenport’s gaze on her softened. “I couldn’t let anything happen, I couldn’t lose them. I knew that the moment you remembered, you’d need them back.”

“You didn’t give them to us earlier.” Davenport pointed out.

“I didn’t want to force you to remember. I didn’t know...I wasn’t sure how the past decade would have affected everything. I didn’t know how remembering would go, so I wanted the need to be from your own volition.”

“At least we get a choice in something after all these years.” The gnome muttered, and Merle elbowed him.

“Thank you, Lucretia. For these and for helping save the world.” He pat her gently and she smiled at him lovingly. “I’m proud of you.” She whimpered as tears started to fall, and she looked away as her hand shot up to cover her face. “Aw, Lucy! Come on.” He chided her, poking her side.

“Thank you.” Davenport agreed. “This will take some time for all of us, but thank you.” Lucretia nodded, shuffling back a few steps. “Merle,” Davenport refocused, “will you re-marry me?”

“In a hundred planes, in every world in existence.” Merle smiled, slipping the ring back on to Davenport’s finger.

“In a hundred planes, in every world in existence.” The captain repeated, duplicating the action. They stared at each other for a long time, soaking it back in, hands intertwined.

“HEY! THAT’S PRETTY GAY!” Taako yelled, causing Merle to break the revelry with a fit of laughter.

“Shut your mouth, boy! We still need to talk about your arm-cursing boyfriend, Death!” Merle waved a fist, starting to hustle towards the elf. He hardly realized he had Davenport in his tow - it just seemed so natural again.


End file.
